On February 21st, Soze Gallery in Los Angeles will be opening a new show from Erin M. Riley (interviewed) featuring her unconventional tapestry works. Entitled Something Previous, the body of work on display consists of some pieces from her signature series of weavings documenting selfie and sexting culture, the intimate snaps that often make their way onto the internet, inadvertent or not.
Riley further states – “Consuming and sending images is a daily practice in most of our lives. We see, narrate, and covet. Our relationship to our image is that of impermanence, constantly changing, constantly new. Many people document every aspect of their lives to the point that images become noise, their longevity online ignored or unknown. Using the medium of hand woven tapestry to make these images physically real, I hope to re-contextualize our understanding of ourselves and as well as the nudity of others. The title of this exhibition comes from a line in the poem When Death Comes by Mary Oliver “…and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth.” The women depicted in this exhibition are all images that I have found online through Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook, and also images of myself from my phone. These images are ones that have made me stop to wonder about the girl, about her thoughts and desires. My images have been taken for the sole purpose of relating to others not physically present. Using a medium with a long history of only being accessed by a small section of the population I hope to allow the viewer to revere images they might otherwise look past.
Discuss Erin Riley here.
